Essays

What follows is the final edition of my four-part look at active vs. passive. In it, I offer a broad how-to guide for the average retail investor. Including some timeless wisdom from the investment greats. This is not financial advice, but an outline of some basic concepts and ideas that may ignite your own due diligence. The Magic of Compounding “I think the desire to get rich fast is pretty dangerous. My own system was to get rich slow… …if you…

There is no such thing as one superior investment strategy – neither active nor passive. But, this begs the question: how, then, should an investor to choose between them? In short, it depends on your circle of competency. Up now is part three of a four-part dissertation on active vs. passive. In it, I outline a framework for choosing an investment method that is best suited to your needs and abilities. It begins with a brief survey of asset classes,…

A seismic shift of capital - from active to passive - has eviscerated financial markets. The trend is no more obvious than in a widespread uptake of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF). The topic for consideration is whether ETFs make financial markets more or less efficient. Do they improve our ability to access market returns, or encourage undue risky behaviour? Perhaps, even, a new financial bubble? To jump to the punch line, ETFs are less a cause of irrational exuberance, than a…

How often have you asked yourself: is it worth me holding onto these Telstra shares my parents gave me? Is there a better option to earning such a paltry return on my savings? Does anyone know a good fund manager? Or what the hell are people talking about when they refer to “index funds” and “ETFs”? These questions are not only common, but reflect a deeper tension in wealth management. Whether you should be an active or passive manager of…

A 21st Century Roadmap for Competition in Currency In 1976, Professor F.A. Hayek – the 20th Century’s preeminent classical liberal – published a groundbreaking proposal for the denationalization of money. Under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Hayek’s monograph called for financial institutions to be afforded the freedom to issue their own competing private currencies. Forty years on, the policy initiative remains off the political agenda. This essay seeks to restate and revitalize the case for competition in…

Whig Capital is a private investment company located in Geelong, Victoria. We aim to generate above average risk-adjusted returns on capital by applying a value investing method to business evaluation and a classical liberal framework to issues of political economy.